Bigger, Badder NDAA 2014 Quietly Passed the House and Senate – and It Is On the Way to Obama’s Desk

While
everyone is distracted with the holiday festivities, Congress has been
hard at work, screwing us over in the name of national security.

Yesterday the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act was
fast-tracked through the Senate, with no time for discussion or
amendments. And you know, its Christmastime, so they just passed it so
that they could recess for the holidays. The new version of the NDAA has
already been quietly passed by the House of Representatives.

It authorizes massive spending, including $527 billion in base
defense spending for the current fiscal year, funding for the war in
Afghanistan, and funding for nuclear weapons programs.

The indefinite detention allowed by the original NDAA is still here,
and it’s actually worse now, because there are provisions that will make
it easier for the government to target those who disagree. Section
1071 outlines the creation of the “Conflict Records Research Center”,
where the unconstitutionally obtained information that the NSA has
collected is compiled and shared with the Department of Defense. The
information, called in the wording “captured records,” can be anything
from your phone records, emails, browsing history or posts on social
media sites.

The New American reports in detail on the expansion of powers:

For two years, the NDAA included provisions that
purported to authorize the president of the United States to deploy the
U.S. military to apprehend and indefinitely detain any person (including
an American citizen) who he believes “represent[s] an enduring security
threat to the United States.”

Such an immense grant of power is not only unconscionable, but unconstitutional, as well.
Regardless of promises to the contrary made every year since 2011 by
President Obama, the language of the NDAA places every citizen of the
United States within the universe of potential “covered persons.” Any
American could one day find himself or herself branded a “belligerent”
and thus subject to the complete confiscation of his or her
constitutional civil liberties and to nearly never-ending incarceration
in a military prison.

Finally, there is in the NDAA for 2014 a frightening fusion of the
federal government’s constant surveillance of innocent Americans and the
assistance it will give to justifying the indefinite detention of
anyone labeled an enemy of the regime.

Section 1071 of the version of the 2014 NDAA approved by the House
and Senate committees this week expands on the scope of surveillance
established by the Patriot Act and the Authorization for the Use of
Military Force (AUMF).

Section 1071(a) authorizes the secretary of defense to “establish a
center to be known as the ‘Conflict Records Research Center.’” According
to the text of the latest version of the NDAA, the center’s task would
be to compile a “digital research database including translations and to
facilitate research and analysis of records captured from countries,
organizations, and individuals, now or once hostile to the United
States.”

In order to accomplish the center’s purpose, the secretary of defense
will create an information exchange in cooperation with the director of
national intelligence.

Key to the functioning of this information exchange will be the
collection of “captured records.” Section 1071(g)(1), defines a captured
record as “a document, audio file, video file, or other material
captured during combat operations from countries, organizations, or
individuals, now or once hostile to the United States.”

When read in conjunction with the provision of the AUMF that left the
War on Terror open-ended and the prior NDAAs’ classification of the
United States as a battleground in that unconstitutional war, and you’ve
got a powerful combination that can knock out the entire Bill of
Rights.

Finally, when all the foregoing is couched within the context of the
revelations regarding the dragnet surveillance programs of the NSA, it
becomes evident that anyone’s phone records, e-mail messages, browsing
history, text messages, and social media posts could qualify as a
“captured record.”

After being seized by the NSA (or some other federal surveillance
apparatus), the materials would be processed by the Conflict Records
Research Center created by this bill. This center’s massive database of
electronic information and its collaboration with the NSA converts the
United States into a constantly monitored holding cell and all its
citizens and residents into suspects. All, of course, in the name of the
security of the homeland. (source)

One thing that was omitted is the amendment on the prosecution of
sexual assaults in the military. So, we can all be locked up
indefinitely for crimes that haven’t been proven, but they don’t care so
much if military members continue to rape other military members.

The final compromise, fashioned by the leaders of the
House and Senate Armed Services committees, leaves out Democratic
language that would have eased restrictions on transferring Gitmo
detainees to the United States — a provision that would have helped the
administration achieve its goal of shuttering the facility.

It also does not include a controversial amendment by Sen. Kirsten
Gillibrand to remove decisions about prosecuting sexual assault from the
military chain of command. The New York Democrat says she’s secured a
commitment from Reid to bring her proposal to the floor as a stand-alone
measure next year. Although she may get her vote, the legislation is
not expected to survive in the Republican-controlled House.

Thursday’s defense bill also sidesteps the debate over Iran. Senators
who wanted to offer amendments imposing tougher sanctions were blocked
because of the bill’s fast-track process, which supporters said was
necessary to get it finished before the end of the year. So Iran
sanction hawks’ efforts will have to wait until next year. Movement now
toward stricter sanctions, the White House has warned, would undermine
its ongoing negotiations to curb Iran’s nuclear program.

Unsurprisingly, there is little hope that President Obama will fail to sign this into law.

Under the new and “improved” NDAA, I’m a belligerent for writing
this, and you’re a belligerent for reading this. God help you if you
email someone about it or share it on Facebook. We’re all going to be
busted as belligerents under this one.

See you at Gitmo or the FEMA camps!

About the Author

Daisy Luther is a freelance writer and editor. Her website, The Organic Prepper,
offers information on healthy prepping, including premium nutritional
choices, general wellness and non-tech solutions. You can follow Daisy
on Facebook and Twitter,
and you can email her at daisy@theorganicprepper.ca

Quotes

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